Fred George

Chief Aircraft Evaluation Editor

San Diego, CA

Summary

Fred is a senior editor and chief pilot with Business & Commercial Aviation and Aviation Week's chief aircraft evaluation pilot. He has flown left seat in virtually every turbine-powered business jet produced in the past three decades.

He has flown more than 195 makes, models and variants, ranging from the Piper J-3 Cub through the latest Boeing and Airbus large twins, logging more than 7,000 hours of flight time. He has earned an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and six jet aircraft type ratings, and he remains an active pilot. Fred also specializes in avionics, aircraft systems and pilot technique reports.

Fred was the first aviation journalist to fly the Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and Gulfstream G650, among other new turbofan aircraft. He’s also flown the Airbus A400M, Howard 500, Airship 600, Dassault Rafale, Grumman HU-16 Albatross and Lockheed Constellation.

Prior to joining Aviation Week, he was an FAA designated pilot examiner [CE-500], instrument flight instructor and jet charter pilot and former U.S. Naval Aviator who made three cruises to the western Pacific while flying the McDonnell-Douglas F-4J Phantom II.

Fred has won numerous aviation journalism awards, including NBAA’s David W. Ewald Platinum Wing Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Articles

Fred George
– Hawker Beechcraft is making “significant progress” in developing Premier II, a derivative of the Premier IA light jet, but has delayed its entry into the market, the company said last week. When the aircraft was announced at the May 2008 European Business Aircraft Convention and Exposition, Hawker Beechcraft officials predicted it would be certified in mid-2010 and then enter service. Early last week, however, the company rolled back the scheduled certification date to “late 2012 or early 2013.”

Fred George
By the time readers get to see these words, resale values for the Eclipse 500 could be on the rebound. Barring delays in U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceedings, Eclipse Aerospace or another more qualified bidder should own the assets of insolvent Eclipse Aviation by the end of August.

Fred George
Embraer’s Legacy 500 super-midsize aircraft and Legacy 450 light-super-mid jet will have digital fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control systems that are substantially more advanced and more capable than the FBW systems installed in its ERJ 170/190 series regional airliners, Embraer’s first aircraft to be fitted with fly-by-wire controls, company executives said last week.